One of the saddest things I've witnessed in personally consulting with literally hundreds of people, is someone attempting to start an online business with a virtually useless product. These are usually people trying to sell outdated products that are generally available for free from hundreds (if not thousands) of other websites.

I see the above far too often. Here are two ways that I've seen this happen:

1) Someone, often a newbie, buys a set of reprint or resale rights from a long copy sales page. This page does such a great job of selling the package that the prospect can see setting up dozens of sites and "making millions."

The newbie buys the package, picks out a few products that look promising, and begins setting up websites for each. Shortly afterwards is where I often come into the picture, as these webmasters often approach me for help in getting more sales. They are perplexed as to why they haven't made even a single sale.

I often take a quick look and instantly identify the problem. The product is often "older than dirt" and available all over the internet for free. At other times, the product is not outdated, but is available on dozens of other sites at a much lower price. In the latter case, the webmaster is trying to sell the product at the price that was listed on the sales page where the bundle of products was described. This would work if it weren't for the fact that MOST of the other people who bought rights to the product were selling it much cheaper, or even using it as a freebie to get new subscribers.

2) A relative newbie buys a package containing dozens of "web businesses-in-a-box." These are complete packages containing a ready-to-go website and a product (usually software or an ebook). Often these ready-to- go packages are comprised of outdated products that countless other people are GIVING away.

How do you avoid the two situations described above? There's a Latin expression - "caveat emptor." It means "let the buyer beware." It means that it's the buyer's responsibility to know what he's buying.

Does this mean that you shouldn't buy these packages of reprint and resale rights? No, it just means that you need to know what you are buying. You also need to know how to properly market it. I've made a small fortune from buying, repackaging, and then reselling reprint rights, resale rights and private label rights.

My secret is that when I buy one of these packages, I go through and look for items that I can combine in different ways. I look for gems within these packages that weren't even emphasized on the sales page, but that I know many of my customers would get a lot of use out of. I look for items that I can add to other packages I'm already selling... to breathe new life into an old sales page or add more value to my offerings.

As an example, I once purchased a resale rights package that included 38 PDF cookbooks. I added these cookbooks to the sales page for my soul food cookbook that I was already selling (as a time limited bonus). This increased my sales for that cookbook substantially while adding practically nothing to the cost of delivering the basic product. If you'd like to see that example in action, check out my sales page at: http://Chitterlings.com/cookbook.html

Another one of my secrets is that I buy private label rights and source code, modify these, and come up with new products at a very low cost. I've done this with over a dozen ebooks, and with several software titles that I currently market. This gives you your own unique product at a very low cost.

The final thing that you MUST do is not overpay for these reprint and resale rights. You WILL find lots of marketable gems in these packages. You can market these as parts of new packages, or as stand alone products. However, you do want to minimize your initial investment.

You can actually find packages containing literally thousands of dollars in reprint and resale rights for under $100. You can even find these bargains for under $50. An example, is the Kick Start Mega Sale, conducted to raise funds for building a homeless shelter. Here you can get a package worth over $4000 for pennies on the dollar. This package is available for a very limited time at: http://kickstartmegasale.com/ks/?ksa=2

You CAN set up an online info-marketing business and do extremely well. The whole key is to get started with the right product... one with some real value. The whole key there is to do your due diligence, and to be aware of the traps. Now, you need never fall victim to the horror stories that we opened this article with. Feel free to pass this article on and to help spread the word.

Copyright 2006 Willie Crawford